The Perils of Creative Business

If you have your own business in a creative field you will get what I am about to ponder...if not...just smile and nod as you read. As I have come to learn in the last few years as a sole proprietor artist, creating is a small part of creative businesses. The marketing, advertising, bookkeeping, organizing, shipping, sales, accounting, planning, packaging etc takes up sooooo much more time then you would ever have imagined. Now mind you, I began Manic Trout because there was no way I could go a day without creating, so I do still make things a good amount of my time...but the strange situation that I often find myself in goes along the lines of allowing myself to sit down and be creative for hours at a time only when I am done with all the stuff I have to do. The creative aspect of my art career has become my reward for doing the other 90% of my job.

I strongly believe that if I sold a greater amount of my work this could change a bit and I could create more often, as right now I have enough inventory to keep up with sales. One day I may even be able to quit my "day" job and create even more often...but right now I do a great deal of the other stuff more then I get to make anything!

Ironically, the more I have to do, the more I have a creative streak burning to be released...sometimes I can rearrange my schedule and fit it all in, but there are times that the to-do's have deadlines that I have not set and there for I once again have to stifle my urges. Although I will admit that I get more done on all other projects when I procrastinate, as long as I reach my deadlines its all ok, but sometimes I wonder why I am stretching canvases when I need to work on bottle caps...